20,000
Children Affected By Conflict
In Lebanese Camp
By IRIN News
13 June, 2007
IRIN News
BEDDAWI CAMP, 11 June 2007 (IRIN) - Seven-year-old
Omar Mohammed Mallas may pretend the bombs and bullets that slammed
into his home from the clashes outside did not scare him much, but spend
a little time with the young resident of north Lebanon's besieged Nahr
al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, and he quietly confesses his fears.
"I saw the tanks and
heard the explosions and I told my Mum: 'Let's get out of here.' On
the way I found a piece of shrapnel that I liked but I've lost it now.
I'm really looking forward to going home," said Omar, sitting in
the shade of a playground set up by the United Nations Children's Agency
(UNICEF) in Baddawi camp, 10km from Nahr al-Bared.
According to the latest figures
from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Baddawi camp is
now home to just under 13,000 of nearly 30,000 Palestinians who have
been displaced by the ongoing conflict between the Lebanese army and
Fatah al-Islam militants holed up in Nahr al-Bared.
With the violence now in
its fourth week, UNICEF estimates that some 15,000 children from Nahr
al-Bared camp, once home to up to 40,000 people, and 5,000 children
from the smaller Beddawi camp have been adversely affected by the conflict.
Not only have they been displaced
from their homes and have seen their schools close, but the fear of
what many have seen and heard, combined with the threats of ongoing
conflict and political instability, are leaving many children traumatised.
Aggressive behaviour
Omar's mother, Fidda Ibrahim
al-Haj, says her son has become aggressive and introspective since the
family fled the shells falling near their home.
"Omar's mentality has
changed a lot. He used to be like every other boy. But during the four
days we stayed in the camp through the bombardment he was terrified
and was crying all the time," she said. "Now he bites me or
slaps my face when he wants something. He doesn't respond when I speak
to him. He wets himself and sometimes bangs his head against a wall."
When Fidda took her son to
see a psychiatrist in the Somoud clinic just outside Beddawi camp, she
said Omar attacked the doctor and refused to talk about how he was feeling.
The young boy has since been prescribed a daily dose of psychoactive
medication.
"He is calmer today,
but you should see him when he gets angry," said Fidda. "And
he cannot be away from me for a single second now. He is really attached
to me."
Jacqueline Sabah, a psychologist
at the Somoud clinic, said she had seen about 350 children displaced
from Nahr al-Bared suffering shock trauma or symptoms of anxiety brought
on by the conflict, which began on 20 May.
"They are afraid
of everything"
"They are afraid of
everything," she said. "They can't sleep or eat and they often
wet themselves. So we work either in group or in individual therapy
sessions trying to encourage the children to speak about the war and
about what makes them scared."
UNICEF is playing an active
role in efforts to restore some normalcy to the lives of children affected
by the conflict. As well as running structured activities such as games
of football in the UNICEF playground, the agency also works with local
UNICEF teachers to run daily drawing and colouring classes for at least
100 children in a classroom in Baddawi.
"Any conflict-based
emergency will have a particular effect on children. There is lots of
confusion and they hear and see some really scary things," said
UNICEF communications officer Nichole Ireland, who has been overseeing
the activities in Baddawi.
"But children are usually
very resilient and if you can re-establish a safe environment, 90-95
percent will recovery naturally without the need for any clinical intervention."
Looming war anniversary
But Ireland also warned that
treating trauma in children in Lebanon posed some extra challenges.
"After a natural disaster
it is possible to restore normalcy and stability to the lives of children
reasonably quickly. But in Lebanon there is ongoing uncertainty and
political unrest and this can continue to provoke anxiety in children,"
she said.
The looming anniversary on
16 July of the outbreak of last summer's devastating war between Lebanon's
Hezbollah militants and Israel is a further factor heightening possibilities
of distress in children, said Ireland.
Hibba Deeb is a teacher at
the UNICEF-run drawing class for children in Baddawi. She says the younger
boys and girls have no problem drawing optimistic scenes of nature and
family life. But when she asks those over nine years of age to do the
same, the results are very different.
"We try and encourage
the older children to draw scenes from nature, but they all draw pictures
of the camp being destroyed," said Deeb. "They draw scenes
they can remember, of veiled women injured by shrapnel, of dead bodies
or of themselves carrying guns. It's almost as if they've been taught
violence."
This item comes to you via
IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material
may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the copyright
page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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